Lee University will open its 20th Presidential Concert Series on Tuesday with a concert by Ilya Yakushev, winner of the 2005 World Piano Competition. He will perform works by Bach, Beethoven, Ravel and Liszt.

A native of St. Petersburg, Russia, Yakushev won his first award at age 12 as a prize winner of the Young Artists Concerto Competition. His San Francisco Symphony performances in 2007 were included in the Top 10 classical music events of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Yakushev attracted international attention in December 2006, presenting solo recitals at such venues as the Bechstein Center in Berlin and Vienna's Musikverein.

In 1998, he was presented a national honor, The Award for Excellence in Performance, from the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation in Moscow. Most recently, Yakushev received the prestigious Gawon International Music Society's Award in Seoul, Korea.

Yakushev studied at the Rimsky-Korsakov College of Music in his native St. Petersburg, Russia, and the Mannes College of Music in New York City.